Tuesday: That's very optimistic. It's generally accepted that he is the worst president since Carter.

Tuesday: Ha! Everything that is important makes them grouchy. Good thing they will hopefully not be so powerful in a couple months. I know I'm certainly going to do MY part to make sure they aren't.

Tuesday: they have time to bother with stupid stuff like that? yet have to go "campaign" and skip the important stuff? Please. NO wait.. let's have more comedians.

If the government doesn't make the changes McDonald's is asking for, they WILL drop this coverage. Period. And they WON'T be alone! Thanks to Obama Care. And I believe it's all a set up by Obama to control all aspects or our lives.

September 30, 2010 03:03 PM UTC by John Stossel
Latest Unintended Consequence of Obamacare: McDonalds May Drop Health Plans for Workers

Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that McDonalds “warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.”

Why? Because the central planners of the Obama administration decided in their infinite wisdom that all insurers should spend at least 80-85% of their revenues on patient care, rather than administrative costs. That’s called a “medical loss ratio” in industry speak. But there’s no evidence that spending 80% of revenue on patient care is good for customers. As health economist James C. Robinson explained years ago, “medical loss ratios” are just an accounting tool, and were "never intended to measure quality or efficiency."

McDonalds’ employees tend to be young, and don’t stay with the company long. It’s often their first job and they quickly move on to another one. That means unavoidably high administrative costs to process new workers.

So, it’s not surprising that McDonalds may have to drop their health care plans for workers. From the WSJ:

… McDonald's, in a memo to federal officials, said "it would be economically prohibitive for our carrier to continue offering" [its basic plan] unless it got an exemption

… Insurers say dozens of other employers could find themselves in the same situation as McDonald's. Aetna Inc. ... provides [similar] plans to Home Depot Inc., Disney Worldwide Services, CVS Caremark Corp., Staples Inc. and Blockbuster Inc., among others, according to an Aetna client list obtained by the Journal. Aetna also covers AmeriCorps teaching-program sponsors, who are required by law to make health coverage available.

This is just the latest example of the unintended consequences of Obamacare – or as Reason’s Peter Suderman puts it, the latest entry from the “No One Could Have Predicted! File.” This month, the rule banning insurance companies from turning down children with pre-existing conditions resulted in … insurance companies dropping those policies altogether. And as new mandates for minimum coverage come into effect, insurance companies have … announced big rate hikes to pay for it. (The Administration responded by threatening insurers, declaring they have “zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases.”)

Remind me: Why is it a good idea to give the federal government more control of the health insurance market?


Read more: http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/09/30/latest-unintended-consequence-of-obamacare-mcdonalds-may-drop-health-plans-for-workers/#ixzz114b0LnDh

Internal documents recently reviewed by Fortune, originally requested by Congress, show what the bill's critics predicted, and what its champions dreaded: many large companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government.

That would dismantle the employer-based system that has reigned since World War II. It would also seem to contradict President Obama's statements that Americans who like their current plans could keep them. And as we'll see, it would hugely magnify the projected costs for the bill, which controls deficits only by assuming that America's employers would remain the backbone of the nation's health care system.

Hence, health-care reform risks becoming a victim of unintended consequences. Amazingly, the corporate documents that prove this point became public because of a different set of unintended consequences: they told a story far different than the one the politicians who demanded them expected.

In a stunning revelation Wednesday, several top U.S. corporations are seriously considering dropping employee health insurance coverage in light of what they see as the inevitable consequence of ObamaCare--skyrocketing costs.

(PRNewsFoto/Verizon).

The companies state that after their legal experts poured over the thousands of pages in the new law, it will cost them less to pay the fines for not providing healthcare coverage for employees than continuing to provide employer-paid health insurance benefits.

As a side-note to the announcement, the companies maintain that ObamaCare will result in a dramatic increase in expenses for providing employee coverage, with added costs skyrocketing to multi-billions of dollars.

According to Business Record:

Additionally, the penalties to businesses for not offering coverage are less expensive than the cost of providing insurance, she said. "But for those that aren't providing coverage now, this is a huge burden to them. And for employers that have a lot of employees working 30 hours (the threshold to be considered full- ime), you may have a lot of businesses cutting them back to 29 hours."

Business Record maintains that despite this fact most companies will probably try to continue to provide coverage.

But a report issued today in Fortune Magazine and reported by CNN indicates that the dire warnings of ObamaCare critics concerning the consequences of approving the costly legislation are in fact well-founded.

The report points to internal documents from AT&T, Verizon, John Deere, and several other large corporations which show that executives are, in fact, looking at the option of dropping healthcare coverage for employees due to what they are sure will be unsustainable increases in costs. These costs will be so prohibitive that it would benefit the corporations to pay the government fines instead:

McDonald's may drop health insurance for 30,000 workers
from American Thinker Blog
Obamacare - working as planned.

September 30, 2010
McDonald's may drop health insurance for 30,000 workers
Clarice Feldman
The Administration cared little when voters and employers warned of the problems in Obamacare. Now that it's passed every day brings more evidence that it should have listened to those warnings.

The Wall Street Journal reports that McDonald's may have to stop paying health insurance for its 30,000 employees as a result of an onerous provision of the law which by design or not will drive private insurers from the market unless repealed:

McDonald's Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.

The move is one of the clearest indications that new rules may disrupt workers' health plans as the law ripples through the real world.

Tuesday: Saved people can bury bodies as well... but it's best to remember that it's just a body.

Then there is John the Baptist .. the Prophet Elijah reborn.

Tuesday: You also have Jesus when talking about a funeral "let the dead bury the dead".

Tuesday: Oh I've heard about that.. I think Hubbard just took the likes of Christianity and/or other religions like Krishna and gave it a sci-fi twist.

... In Zen there is the story of how a devout monk training under a false master still achieved enlightenment and could when asked to walk, on water. It's not so much to me that they may believe in 'aliens', as to a certain degree reincarnation as taught in many religions cannot deny the possibility that we have lived on other worlds. I object to the way the people are used. One story of how a woman who was married could not tell her husband she was pregnant till 8 months gone is terrible.

Ex members of the official Scientology org are now it appears trying to start a reformation, to try and take it back to the early days when it was more a family then a business.

must have been the peanuts

..Interesting. Scientology as a religion was (according to original followers) ok.. then Hubbard died and da new management changed things. Money then became God.

Tuesday: Depends on how you define 'cult' .. Money changers would be more accurate.. just like some of the Christian Evangelists, or like one of the so called Christian channels here in the UK...

My.. what a big stone the presenter wore on her ring finger.. I wonder if it had anything to do with that she was the wife and co owner of the TV channel.

Tonight's Panorama is a revisit to the world of Scientology. Will the same events happen as last time?? Will the Scientologists stalk the BBC crew?? Will they diss everyone that speaks to the reporter dragging up any piece of dirt they can?

If they were so wonderful.. why do that?

Last night's Panorama was on how investigations into 'war crimes' committed by the British Army were blocked or delayed by the chain of command. It appears that the breaches in the Geneva convention were encouraged by the USA despite a 30 odd year ban after inquiries into the same sort of instances in Northern Ireland.

... As one person commentated.... "How can you try and win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people if you are doing what you are saying is wrong to do"

A leaked report by the Red Cross into the treatment of prisoners in Iraq by servicemen sent to the MOD and British Army condemned the treatment of prisoners and the covering up of such. In the new year a report will be released into an incident where there is a disagreement over how many dead Iraqis were transported to a depot after an attack on a British column and how many were alive.

According to a recent poll, likely voters get their political news
primarily from cable television. Among cable channels, 42 percent, a
plurality, watch Fox News for its political coverage. Only 12 percent
said they watched MSNBC. What's more, most likely voters don't like or
have never heard of MSNBC's prime time talent.

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
Thomas Jefferson

In recent news .. a 100 strong wind farm has started producing green energy off the English coast... the power produced is enough to power 200,000 homes.

Tuesday: Speaking of "don't ask, don't tell"
How's that working out?

Bernice:

Artful Dodger: I wish you and Tuesday would get a room....the attraction is so obvious.

"Who is going to find out? These women are trash. Nobody is going to believe them." - Hillary Clinton on her husbands affairs.

"You had some good points. It was kind of long so I forgot some of them." - Louisiana Senator Diana Bajoie during a debate in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.


I've now been in 57 states, I think, one left to go. One left to go, Alaska and Hawaii I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it. Guess who

"If there’s any message from the Congress to the markets it is that this is a fiscally sound package." - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the pork filled stimulus package in March 2009

Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English . . . you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.
Then Senator Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign

"It was like the Special Olympics or something." - President Barack Obama talking about his bowling game on "The Tonight Show".


Today is a big day in America. Only 36,000 people lost their jobs today, which is really good. - Senator Harry Reid, March 5, 2010

We have been guided by a Republican administration who believes in this simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it.
Virginia Representative Jim Moran while running for re-election in 2008.

Who really cares about it being unconstitutional?
Pittsburgh City Councilperson Tonya Payne after the council approved legislation to fine a gun owner $500 for not reporting a stolen firearm within 24 hours

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president." - Hillary Clinton, while First Lady, commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents


"My husband may have his faults, but he has never lied to me." - from page 465 of Hillary Clinton's book "Living History"


"Just keep the cockpit door closed. You can put up a sign in Arab - this is, say, type-casting, but say 'Try to hijack, go to jail.' " - Senator Fritz Hollings on preventing another 9/11 type terrorist attack


"On behalf of all of you, I want to express my appreciation for this tremendously warm recession." - Democratic National Committee chairman Ron Brown


"Last year, the vice president launched a new effort to help make communities more liberal." - President Bill Clinton, during his 2000 State of the Union speech


"No, it wasn't classic at all. I had one of those inarticulate moments late in the evening... and I didn't say something very clearly." - John Kerry in reference to his $87 billion statement made during a NOONTIME appearance


"She's a wonderful person, and we are looking forward to a happy and wonderful night... uh, life together." - Senator Ted Kennedy about his then fiance Victoria Reggie


"An incomplete success." - President Jimmy Carter in 1980 describing the disastrous attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran


"President Bush will probably win the vote, somewhere between 45 and 47 votes against, and he'll think that's a victory." - Joe Biden on the vote to confirm UN Ambassador John Bolton on ABC's This Week


"Probably she does look good compared to the mummy he's been having sex with." - Clinton White House press secretary Mike McCurry making an "off the record" comment to reporters in reference to Clinton's line about a Inca mummy


"The more killing and homicides you have, the more havoc it prevents." - Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley


"We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." - Hillary Clinton


"An innocent bureaucratic snafu." - President Clinton attempting to explain what 900 Republican FBI files were doing in the White House


"We've got a very strong candidate. I'm trying to think of his name." - Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd at an appearance on behlf of a South Carolina senate candidate


Chuck, stand up, let the people see you - Joe Biden to State Senator Chuck Graham, a paraplegic.


"I think the president can claim executive privilege, but when it comes to an appointment to the Supreme Court, you can't be playing hide the salami, or whatever it is." - Howard Dean on Hardball


"The other thing we have to do is to take seriously the role in this problem of...older men who prey on underage women." - President Bill Clinton, talking about teen pregnancy in 1996


In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking. - Joe Biden

"I am in hell already. I'm in Israel." - Al Sharpton during a visit to Israel.


"In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died." Barack Obama (Actual death toll: 12)

"I will stand up and struggle, as others have, to try to get that right balance between violence, and sex, ... and things." - John Kerry on ABC News


"But I don't know that she's ever had a real job — I mean, since she's been grown up." -- Teresa Heinz-Kerry on First Lady Laura Bush, a former teacher and librarian


"Those who died in the earthquake, their lives will never be the same again." - Barbara Boxe


"I believe that gays and lesbians deserve to have the same rights as homosexuals." - Rev. Al Sharpton in 2002


"Outside of the killings, we have one of the lowest crime rates in the country." - Marion Barry, mayor of Washington, D.C.


"It's a new day. Communism is dead. It's even dead in Cuba. I hate to say it, it's dead." - Barbara Boxer, senator from California


"A zebra does not change its spots." - Al Gore, attacking President George Bush in 1992


"This is still the greatest country in the world if we just steel our wills and lose our minds." - President Bill Clinton


"The police are not here to create disorder. They are here to preserve disorder." - Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley during the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention


"I was embarrassed to wear it." - Senator Diane Feinstein on wearing an American flag pin


"I'm not a chauvinist, obviously...I believe in women's rights for every woman but my own." - Chicago Mayor Harold Washington


"Breast cancer victims face a long waiting line before they could get a biopsy or, uh, or a uh, another kind of, what am I looking for, a sonogram or...." (people in the crowd shouted "Mammogram!") - Al Gore in 2000


"I have to confess that it's crossed my mind that you could not be a Republican and a Christian." - Hillary Clinton in a 1997 interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch


''I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.'' - John Kerry at a campaign rally in 2004


"If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution inhibit the government's ability to govern the people, we should look to limit those guarantees." - Bill Clinton in an August 12, 1993 speech


"Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids." - Teresa Heinz-Kerry talking to volunteers packing donations for hurricane relief in the Caribbean


"Yes, the president should resign. He has lied to the American people... and betrayed their trust."- The 12th Congressional District hopeful Bill Clinton during the Nixon Watergate investigations


"I'm someone who has a deep, emotional attachment to Starsky and Hutch." - President Bill Clinton at a meeting with TV executives


I don't own an SUV.... The Family has it, I don't have it." - John Kerry, whose family had a 1995 Suburban, a 1993 Land Rover Defender, a 1989 Jeep Cherokee, and a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee at the time of that statement


"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is" - Bill Clinton during his Grand Jury testimony

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman." - President Bill Clinton's finger waging statement some time before admitting that he did have sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky


"Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe." - Diane Feinstein, who carried a concealed weapon after claiming to be the target of a terrorist group


"The last time I checked, the Constitution said, 'of the people, by the people and for the people.' That's what the Declaration of Independence says." - Bill Clinton quoting The Gettysburg Address during a 1996 campaign stop


"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion ..." Barack Obama


"I tell you, that Michael Jackson is unbelievable! Isn't he? He's just unbelievable. Three plays in twenty seconds." - Al Gore commenting on basketball star Michael Jordan


"They all behave the same. They all look the same. It’s pretty much a white Christian party." - Howard Dean talking about the Republican Party while in San Francisco


"You all look alike to me." - Florida Representative Corrine Brown to Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega after calling him and other members of the Bush administration "racist" and "a bunch of white men"


"The President has kept all of the promises he intended to keep." - Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos speaking on Larry King Live


"I haven't committed a crime, what I have done is fail to comply with the law." - New York City Mayor David Dinkins reacting to accusations that he didn't pay his taxes


"If the...if he...if is means is and never has been, that is not - that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement." - President Bill Clinton stumbling on the definition of the word "is"


"And now, will y'all stand up and be recognized?" - Texas Democratic Congressman Gib Lewis to a group of people in wheelchairs

"I resent insinuendoes." - Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley


"If we do the work that we can do...people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk again."


"...and the party of a great man who should have been President, who would have been one of the greatest Presidents in history--Hubert Horatio Hornblower!" - Jimmy Carter intending to mention Hubert Humphrey at the 1980 DNC


"I can't believe we are going to let a majority of the people decide what's best for the state." - Louisiana state representative John Travis


"The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people" - Newly elected President Bill Clinton on MTV in 1993


"I mean you've got a conservative and right-winged press presence with really nothing on the other end of the political spectrum." - Hillary Clinton, on C-Span